


Falling

by awkwardeye



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, Non-Linear Narrative, POV Third Person, Referenced Drug Use, Romance, Short Story, Tragedy, slight age gap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-11
Updated: 2016-04-11
Packaged: 2018-06-01 14:00:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6522760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardeye/pseuds/awkwardeye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bride reminisces on her wedding day. Wandering the venue, she recalls bits and pieces of a love spanning a large portion of her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Falling

**Author's Note:**

> T'aint too amazing

The world halted.She doesn't know when or why, but she's sure the world halted for the sun sits where it has, suspended above the stretching scape of trees swallowed by the sea. It reflects warmly off of the serene surface so close, in her eyes, that she might touch it if she leans forward and reaches for it.

She doesn't know when or why, but she's sure the world halted for the sun sits where it has, suspended above the stretching scape of trees swallowed by the sea. It reflects warmly off of the serene surface so close, in her eyes, that she might touch it if she leans forward and reaches for it.

Through the spectacular windows, the burning hues caress the pure white setting, kissing the white petals of the flowers wound purposefully around marble columns. A pink undertone splashes the sky with a certain softness, blending into the orange and blue hues of sunrise. Silence like no other settles like dust, caught in the oddest corners and unforgiving and waiting to be disturbed.

Her fingers press down on random keys, bringing forth a rich strumming that reverberates through the void of flowers and porcelain and marble. She stares at the piano, the overwhelming sensation of nostalgia pervading the still air, and she thinks of him, of the way he plays as if caught in the throes of passion with crimson cheeks and straying locks flying and fingers dancing across ebony and ivory keys.

She remembers a time when she sat and listened to him play for hours.

* * *

_His uniform jacket lay discarded beside his bench. His long, ebony hair cascaded over his shoulders and kissed his flushed cheeks as he played. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to his elbows. His top buttons hung uselessly from their threads, popped in his rush to relieve himself of the constraint of fabric._

_Her chest heaved, up and down, and her breath escaped her lips in heavy pants. She gnawed on those lips, her fingers clutching and releasing air as she slid to the ground, defeated. Her uniform hung from her body, stained and torn in places. She didn't bother to shake the leaves from her hair as she wrapped her arms around herself and rested her cheek against her knee. The threat of tears irritated her eyes and her throat felt dry, but not one tear slid down her cheek._

_They'd run straight from the school to her house where her nanny didn't scold them when she saw the pain in their eyes because she, too, felt it. In the rush, neither cared to listen to words and he filled the silence with his mournful songs as the music flowed from his fingertips like tangible grief.It was late into the evening when he pulled himself from the music and his eyes cleared of notes, filling instead with a melancholy, neverending rest. He stared out of the window, at her mother's garden that would likely fall into disarray without the woman's loving touch._

_It was late into the evening when he pulled himself from the music and his eyes cleared of notes, filling instead with a melancholy, neverending rest. He stared out of the window, at her mother's garden that would likely fall into disarray without the woman's loving touch.As if on cue, tears fell from both sets of eyes, staring longingly out of the window. They hoped in vain for the familiar laughter of her mother, for the booming chuckle of her father. Only the shuffling of the maids' feet met their ears. Only the sight of evening fading into night met their swollen eyes, shining with mutual grief and hatred for the world for spinning and fate for having its way._

_As if on cue, tears fell from both sets of eyes, staring longingly out of the window. They hoped in vain for the familiar laughter of her mother, for the booming chuckle of her father. Only the shuffling of the maids' feet met their ears. Only the sight of evening fading into night met their swollen eyes, shining with mutual grief and hatred for the world for spinning and fate for having its way."It isn't fair, Itachi," the girl sobbed._

_"It isn't fair, Itachi," the girl sobbed._

_Itachi closed his eyes and hung his head, silently agreeing._

_The front door slammed open. Slow footsteps wound their way closer to the room in which the children sat. The girl's mother peered in at the children, her eyes rimmed in red. "Who told you?" she asked, softly._

_"I saw the fire from the classroom..."_

_"I saw the smoke and I heard her scream."_

_Two children and the mother of one stared blankly out of the window, a heaviness weighing on their hearts. That day, one lost a father, the other something akin to a father, and the last a husband and the world continued to spin as if nothing_ happened, _as if it hadn't lost someone so dear to a number of its inhabitants._

* * *

The woman turns away from the piano, focusing instead on a bouquet of white roses sitting on a bench. Her eyes scan the deserted pews and she narrows her eyes as they catch the reflection of light striking the chandelier. As it hits the surface, it throws millions of shimmering beams of stunningly colored lights across the vast space.

The world begins again. The sun hangs higher than before. Only small amounts of pink paint the blue and orange sky. The dark clouds lighten. A murmuring breaks the silence along with the rush of footsteps.

She pauses, suddenly realizing her current position. She can't remember how or when she dressed herself or why she arrived at the church earlier than the priest. As quickly as the realization hits, another memory distracts her.

* * *

_"What do you see in him?"_

_"I love him, Sasuke, and he loves me. Isn't that enough?"_

_The younger Uchiha clenched his jaw and glared at the young woman. He slammed her cup down and adjusted his apron as he thought of a reasonable response. "Itachi gets everything, huh? Why can't you see what I see?" he demanded._

_"Your boss will be angry if you hang around like this," the woman murmured. She attempted to read her book as her fiance's brother stood over her emanating irritation and disdain._

_"I love you, too. More than him."_

_The woman glanced around the small shop before shaking her head. She rummaged through her purse for a few bills to pay for her coffee, though she hadn't touched it. Standing, she ran her fingers through the teen's hair and smiled knowingly. "Love," she said, smiling, "isn't a competition. You may hate your brother, but I love the asshole despite his... vices."_

_Sasuke scoffed, but allowed her to walk past him. As the door closed behind her, he snatched her money from the table and shot a glare in the direction of his coworkers who always enjoyed seeing him rejected by his brother's lover, rightfully so._

* * *

The woman comes to in a dressing room with no recollection of wandering into it. Her heart beats uncomfortably as she glances at the clock on the wall. Her wedding is mere hours away.

The door opens slowly and Sasuke walks in. He averts his gaze, shifting from foot to foot and pursing his lips as if attempting to hold back whatever he has to say. Finally, he walks to the window and adjusts the curtain, completely ignoring the woman.

"Sasuke."

"It's a shame," he says, cutting her off before she can speak again. Shaking his head, he lowers his head and murmurs something she doesn't catch, a phrase spoken softly enough to escape her range of hearing. He doesn't repeat himself or raise his voice as he continues to mumble.

The woman walks over to him, her train following her in a spectacular seemingly endless length of pure white fabric. She lays a hand on his shoulder, tears stinging her eyes. Blinking and sniffing, she gazes out of the window at the sky, now gray and filled with heavy clouds threatening to cry heavy tears upon the earth.

Beneath her touch, Sasuke stiffens and relaxes as if surprised by the contact. He shivers and lays his hand over hers. Without peeling his eyes from the window, he whispers, "I love you, no matter what you think of me. I always have... and I apologize for..." He chokes on his sentence and spins around, exiting the room abruptly.  
       

* * *

_"Mmm, that smells good," the young woman said._

_"It's just curry, hun," he mother replied with a chuckle. With years between herself and grief, the mother's smile had grown to be nearly as bright as it was before her husband died. Her eyes shown with the usual happiness that accompanied Sunday evenings as she glanced at her daughter and the man she dragged in._

_"Staying for dinner, you two?" Mother asked, grinning. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the stone faced male and her daughter exchange a glance. She wiped her hands on her apron and turned around just in time to see him melt beneath her daughter's loving gaze and return it with one of his own._

_The young woman squeezed her lover's hand and smiled, nodding. "Well, we are kinda busy, but..." She blushed and smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck with her free hand. She ran her fingers through her hair and nibbled on her bottom lip. "Ya see, we're..."_

_The mother crossed her arms over her chest and studied the couple, each appearing guilty in their own way as he avoided her gaze and the young woman looked to him for help. "Well, spit it out. You're adults, you can speak." She raised a trimmed eyebrow and her eyes widened. "You're not... you don't have a bun in the oven, do you?"_

_The young woman shook her head, stuttering out a shaky, "Of course not."_

_"We're engaged," Itachi said, unable to wait for his fiancee to admit it._

_"You were scared to tell me that?" The mother asked. She shook her head, remembering how close the children had been since her daughter met the orphaned boy. "The two of you were practically born engaged."_

* * *

Her mother watches her from the doorway with glistening eyes. A black dress hugs her form, an odd shade for a wedding. She presses her hand to her lips, her wedding band catching the gray light streaming in through the window, and chokes back a sob.

The woman furrows her brow and stares at her mother, confused. "This is a happy day, Mother. Why are you crying?" she asks.

Her mother shakes her head slowly and walks slowly to the mirror. On the table beside the mirror sits a tiara weighed down meticulously cut diamonds. She runs her fingers over the accessory, one which she passed down, one which her mother gave her, and allows a ragged sigh to escape her lips.

"This is a beautiful venue. I know I made you feel guilty for choosing it, but it was a wonderful choice," she says. She turns to her daughter with  a smile, holding the tiara up. "I never thought you'd stay with him, Itachi... Especially after the drugs... Oh, God, the drugs and the alcohol almost ruined him, but you loved him so much. You didn't listen. You never listened."

The woman smiles up at her mother. "I love him, more than life." She laughs, a nostalgic laugh, and nods her head. "There were a lot of things he did that I stuck with him through because we love each other. Sometimes, though, I'll admit I hated him, hated him for the same reasons I love him." She wipes at her eyes and smiles sadly. "He's the only man I've felt so at ease with. When I fell for him, I fell hard."

"But he loves you, too," the older woman says. She chuckles under her breath and holds the tiara up. "Your father used to say Itachi looked at you like you were the most precious jewel ever created. He knew you'd end up marrying each other." The woman places the tiara on her daughters head, holding it with shaking hands.

The woman wraps her fingers around her mother's wrist. "We were meant to be."

The mother pulls her hands away along with the tiara. She clutches her wrist and looks around the room with wide eyes. She finds herself unable to hold in her tears as she rushes from the room, crying, "I thought I could, but I can't do this."

* * *

_The empty classroom beckoned her._

_She knew she'd find him there, waiting for her like he promised. She clearly remembered him saying the night he graduated, when he snuck into her room, that he had something important to give her after she graduated. Since he was two years her senior, she always found herself following his lead. She might have followed him to his university if he let her, if he asked._

_He stood looking out of the windows with his back to the door and her desk on which he placed a carefully wrapped box. Itachi heard her enter, but he didn't turn until he heard her carefully peel away the wrapping paper with an excited squeal. He practically felt her smile and it brought one to his lips, a rarity._

_The girl lifted a silver chain from the box. From it hung a silver key which reflected the sunlight. Her heart beat quickly and loudly, so loud she wondered if he heard it from across the room. Her smile faltered, tears running down her cheeks as he came to her. "What's it go to?" she asked._

_Itachi wiped away her tears with an exasperated sigh before she finished asking the question. Slowly, he intertwined their fingers and pressed his forehead against hers. He closed his eyes and brushed his lips against her soft ones. "It's for my apartment if you ever want to go there." He paused and took a deep breath, preparing himself._

_"Itachi..."_

_"Shh, I know." He pressed a finger to her lips with a smile. "I love you. And I know I don't deserve you. I've got issues, a lot, and you're perfect... This is embarrassing."_

_"Only 'cause you're a wimp, you little weasel," the girl mumbled._

_"Shut up. I love you and I want you to become my official girlfriend," he said._

_"Sure, dude," she teased. Her cheeks burned and she pulled Itachi into a kiss, wrapping his tie around her hand. When they parted, with barely any space between their swelling lips, she whispered, "I love you, too."_

_Her first and only love._

* * *

This time her love stands before her.

"I just passed your Mother. She said you were in here," he's saying when she comes to.

"Where else would I be?" she asks, furrowing her brow.

"I kinda broke a really important promise," he says. He looks dashing in his suit, so handsome that he distracts her to the point where she can't focus on anything but his voice and the sound of her beating heart flooding her ears.

"What promise?" she asks, adjusting his tie.

He touches her hand and meets her eyes. "I saw you in your wedding dress. You were trying it on before I got home from work. There were so many women in the house, all screaming and cheering and pushing me out of my own bedroom and lecturing me about how bad it is to see the bride in her dress before the wedding."

"Something must be wrong," the woman says. "You won't shut up."

"I didn't think anything of it until Sasuke called me a few nights ago," Itachi continues without a response. "It was late,  _really_ late."

* * *

_Sasuke and his brother's fiancee sat in the back of a cab without exchanging words._

_Rain poured down from the sky, strumming against the roof and windows of the cab. A foreign song played on the radio, a low hum in the calm atmosphere._

_"It's too late, isn't it?" Sasuke asked, staring out of the window._

_"It's been too late since I laid eyes on him," she replied. She gazed at the younger male as one might gaze upon their dear sibling and grabbed his hand. "Sasuke, I love Itachi very much and it would mean the world to me if you would accept us as a couple."_

_"Don't treat me like a child..." Sasuke stared at the woman, his eyes showing a mixture of disbelief and anger and an almost hidden hint of betrayal. "What's so great about him? What does he have that I don't?" His voice caught in his throat and he squeezed her hand. "I deserve you."_

_The woman slipped her hand from his grip. "I can't decide if you think you're better than him or less than him and I don't think_ you _even know. You need to grow up and chase your own dreams instead of chasing his." Addressing the driver, she said, "Pull over, I'm getting out."_

_Sasuke grabbed her hand as the car slowed and pulled over. "I may chase after him, but you're my dream because of me, not him."_

_She struggled to open the door, tugging herself free of the younger male's grasp. "It doesn't matter, Sasuke. It's selfish of you to do this when my wedding is so soon! You think my relationship with Itachi is so fragile, that he's the only one who does the hurting! We've been through so much. I've broken his heart more times than I can count and he's done the same to me, but, at the end of the day, we love each other and he's the only man I want to be with!"_

_"I know that!" Sasuke snapped._

_"Then_ let go _!" the woman yelled, stumbling into the busy street as she freed herself._

* * *

"He said it was instant, that you were dead before the ambulance came." Itachi pauses and wipes away his tears. " _Damn_ , I wish I could see you one more time."

"I'm dead?" the woman asks. "Can you... can you see me? Hear me?"

"This whole funeral on the wedding day was Sasuke's idea. He said you wouldn't want anyone to cry."

"I don't. I don't want anyone to cry." She kisses Itachi's cheeks where tears ran. "Especially not you."

Itachi holds a glass (one she only notices at this exact moment) between them and walks over to the bed. "If you're here, lie beside me for a moment." The crimson liquid in the glass sloshes as his hands quake. He downs it in one gulp and lets the beautifully carved cup fall to the ground where it explodes into thousands of tiny pieces.

The woman lays beside him, clasping his hand.

"I just want to be with you," he whispers. His breath grows shallow as his eyes glaze over, staring blankly up at the ceiling as he whispers nonsensical phrases. "I wonder...are the flowers to your liking?"

"What have you done?" she asks, her throat tightening. She shifts and stares down at him as he breathes his last breaths. "You have to live, Itachi. You have to live!" Tears stream down her face as she clutches him to no avail, her fingers passing through his body. She halts in her movements as she remembers something he said to her one night as they drifted off to sleep.

_"I can't live without you. It isn't possible, I'm not that strong."_


End file.
